Friday, May 24, 2013

Flashback Friday: The Brave and the Bold #169

I have been working to present a Flashback Friday at least each week. Here is that promised column now. I picked this book up last fall at the local shop's toy and comic show. There were some great long box finds. I got this issue for Zatanna. She is a character I like a great deal.

Brave and the Bold was and has been a series that would combine some characters for an adventure tale. Batman was a favorite of the writers and is the anchor hero here in this story. Most readers today would not recognize this Batman. He is personable and not the grim and gritty Dark Knight. He does strike fear in this issue and it has consequences.

Zatanna is in her "superhero" costume. It is the variation on the cape and spandex costume that would occasionally be used. Here we get to see her use her spells to turn bullets into flowers and make objects attack the bad guys. It is a good look at her as a fighter. She really holds her own in the action. The cover would have her seem the damsel in distress. She is not that at all. Alfred's comments on her behavior is priceless.

Batman is great as the main detective. He uses Bruce Wayne in a great way to get the fingerprints of a suspect. He gets taken and put in a coffin that ends up being the place he needs to be to aid Zatanna and the woman that is being used and abused in the story. Batman literally scares a guy to death. The circumstances need to remain secret to preserve the story.

This is a great Flashback Friday book. It also includes a back-up short tale that stars Nemesis. It is the lead up to the next issue where Nemesis will team up with Batman. That was a great short. It was complete and served to pique interest. If I see it in a back issue bin I will probably buy it.